The Simplest Choice
by winter-willow
Summary: the summary is on the first page. pairings however you can have here...BS, JL
1. Default Chapter

Category: Mutant X (tv show)

Genre: Romance/Action

Character: Shalimar / Brennan

Lexa / Jesse

Rating: PG-13--R

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. I am poor. I just borrow the characters and the main line to create my own off line stories. The only thing I own is the plot.

Time Frame: At the end of the season in 2004 (played on the WB). The Dominion Headquarters has been blown up and Adam is now in the hands of the Dominion and the Creator. Sanctuary is gone. The Helix is gone. The team only has each other and the clothes on their back.

Summary: It has only been two months since the team lost Adam and now Jesse has uncovered a default message inplanted in their com-rings by Adam stating that they need to find, befriend, and protect a young pregnant mutant and her soon to-be-husband before the Dominion extracts the information from him. What will the team do when they find the couple and another programmed message from Adam telling them that the child the couple is having is the team's grandchild and that he is sorry for repressing and playing with the team's memory but that it was necessary. What will the Dominion do when they realize that the child to be born is the answer to the genetic termination date in all mutants? (the story itself will make much more sense than this summary does-I promise).

(add in: this is the only time you will see the disclaimer. I am NOT writing it at the top of every chapter I add to this story-way too annoying)


	2. Chapter 1

__

anything in italics is the thought of the person

Chapter 1.

Shalimar leaned back into the frothy mass of jasmine scented bubbles and sighed in contentment as the hot steamy water went to work loosening the taut muscles in her back.

"Never again," mumbled the blonde as she closed her eyes and slid further down under the water, "Never again will I trust Brennan when he says it's a great house. It just needs a little tender love and care." _Tender Love and Care my ass._.

Fumbling she found the remote control to the cd player on the long low bench beside the porcelain tub and turned the soft Celtic music up until it filled her senses. _Rest. Good Old Fashioned Rest_. As her body unwound she slowly fell asleep reliving the painful experience of the last few days.

===============================================

Flashback:

"Damn it Brennan get the hell out of the bathroom! There is no way you can still be doing your goddamn hair! It's less than a tenth the length mine is and I have to go pee!"

"Look if you got up earlier then I wouldn't have you complaining every single morning now would I Lexa? Why don't you just wait your turn? If you don't want to wait then next time you can do this weird thing by trying to wake up before me."

"GET OUT OF THERE BRENNAN!"

"NO WAY LEXA."

- -

Across the room, to the right, behind a closed door, a pair of hazel eyes fluttered open. The moment they registered the reason for their being awake a look of annoyance flashed across the face of the owner of the eyes which quickly lighted up bright gold for a few seconds and then dimmed back down to their original color and state. _Not again._ Tawny blonde hair slid down over the girl's face as she stood up and reached for the doorknob that led to the interruption in her sleep. _I'm going to kill those two_.

After pulling on a pair of boxers and her tank top she followed instinct and got ready to battle. Why they had to fight over the shower every single day was beyond her considering cleanliness really didn't matter in this rat-hole. Just as her fingers grasped the doorknob, the pounding of Lexa's fists started against the door, and Shalimar could feel the beginning of a headache coming on.

- -

At the sound of a door creaking open Lexa turned to see who it was. _Damn it_! Lexa spun quickly and headed for her room before she got caught for waking up the non-morning happy feral. _I'm not getting blamed for it this time. Brennan can take the heat. Hell, he'll probably enjoy it._ Her black hair whipped around her face as she found safety in the doorway of the so called kitchen where Jesse was attempting to smear jelly on a piece of toast with out dropping either the bread or the jelly jar onto the unfinished floor. _I'll shower later_.

- -

The feral slipped around the corner and smiled as she saw the dark haired girl try to slip into the kitchen without being obvious. _ I'll take care of her_ _later_. Smiling Shalimar sidled up to the bathroom door and used the master key she had made the day before when she went to work to open the lock and step into the steam filled room. Brennan was still in the shower. _Good._ It would make it easier for her to get back at him in the worst possible way.

- -

Brennan smiled as he turned his back to the shower head and let the water work on his taut shoulder muscles_. Lexa must have finally given up. Good. At least we didn't wake up Shal this time_. He shuddered. Last time they'd woken up Shal early in the morning by yelling over the shower she'd broken at least three of his ribs before letting him apologize. Brennan smiled. It'd hurt like a bitch but afterwards it was kind of nice to have Shal tape up the very ribs she had just broken.

Brennan was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the slim golden arm sneaking into the shower and turning the temperature knob for the water all the way to freezing. He did however, realize his mistake when he leapt out of the shower, fully nude, after the first swish of ice cold water had hit his back.

"What the hell!" he shouted as he looked around the tiny room until he saw the tawny haired female leaning against the door. "Shal, that was so not right honey. You do realize that you will have to be punished for that right sweetheart?", he said with a waggle of his eyebrows and a suggestive smile as he held out a hand to her. Still laughing the blonde walked into his arms and allowed herself to be completely soaked by his wet body walking back into the shower.

Brennan grinned as he covered Shalimar's face with tiny kisses in the shower. They'd had so little time together lately. It seemed like theywere always just saying hello a minute before they had to say goodbye. All of them were managing to hold down two jobs each just to be able to pay for this dump of a hotel room. There had to be something better. Somewhere they could call home again. Somewhere where Shal wouldn't have to hold down two shitty jobs in order to pay part of the extremely high rent; and dammit he was going to find it.

"Brennan! Come on. We have ten minutes to get to the worksite or we're late again. And if we're late again you know what Johnny is going to say..." Jesse's voice trailed off from outside the door; with an apologetic kiss to the top of Shalimar's head Brennan climbed out of the shower and threw on his work jeans and t-shirt. "Alright man, I'm coming!"

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continued in chapter 2...


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

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The two men ran out the door and flew down the stairs halting at the bottom landing on the first floor when the usual raspy voice called out to them, "Rent's due tonight boys don't forget. Or you will be on your backside outside with those two pretties of yours, Ha Ha.." and with a muttered acknowledgement of their landlord's announcement Jesse and Brennan ran out the door to where their only mode of transportation was parked.

"Jess we can not take the truck in to work today. I promised Shal that she and Lexa would not have to ride the bus to work today." Brennan said as he moved to stop the blonde from opening the driver's side door.

"Well we will never make it to work on time if we don't take the damn Dodge Bren. And you better hope it doesn't break down this time halfway there because if we don't make it to work on time this time then we won't get paid and if we don't get paid then we will end up on the street trying to make sure that the girls are protected at all times of the day."

Brennan sighed and let go of his friend's arm and walked dejectedly around the rusty truck to the passenger side door. _Oh God Shal I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you tonight I promise._ He quickly jerked the door open and then slammed it close once he was inside and Jesse had managed to beg the stupid vehicle to start.

"Hey Bren, do me a favor and make sure all the tools look like they're back there. I swear the other day when I couldn't find the screwdriver case I saw that weasel Michael with an identical one." The blonde shook his head Brennan glanced through all the tool boxes behind them as he made a sharp right turn onto what could have once been called a road. "And I mean identical down to the scratches that Shal managed to get on it when you tried to teach her to use the nail gun."

Brennan laughed as he searched among the tubs behind the seat for the screwdriver case. "Yeah, I remember that day. I thought Johnny was going to lose his head when he thought he would actually have her on his crew. He thought it was the greatest idea anyone had ever had until that nail flew toward him and embedded itself in the post not two inches from his right temple." Jesse laughed as he threw the shifter back into fifth gear as he forced the groaning truck to turn left onto an even worse roadway if possible.

They flew up and down the road for a few minutes with Brennan still searching for the case until Jesse saw the dead end coming up, "Alright Bren, hold on, we're at the site."

Brennan glanced up, saw the looming dead end sign and quickly sat up and braced his arms up against the paneling in front of him and pressed back into the seat just as the truck jumped the last sharp upward hill and then landed with a jarring thump on the other side of the small creek at the work site. Jesse revved the engine and downshifted as he parked the junk heap next to all the nice bright and shiny trucks in the makeshift parking lot next to the framework building they were working on.

"Shit, you know man, one day this truck is not going to make that shortcut jump," Brennan said as the both climbed out of the truck and grabbed their main work belts from behind the seats.

Jesse sighed in agreement as they started up the dirt road to where they could already see Johnny yelling at some poor new fellow, "But at least it made it today."

Brennan nodded, "Yeah, I guess."

The two kept their heads down as they passed their boss but to no avail. He glanced up in disgust when the wimp in front of him burst into tears over having hit his thumb with a hammer and noticed his best workers walking onto the site at the usual five minutes late.

"Jesse, hold up there, take this idiot over to the medical tent and then take him up to the site with you. He's working for you from now on. Maybe with you guiding him he won't manage to kill himself or somebody else before the work day is over." Said the salt and pepper haired man as he walked what looked like a nineteen year old boy straight from high school over. "Oh and Brennan let me have a word with you before you get started."

Jesse grabbed the whimpering kid by the shoulder and directed him over to a white pitched tent about four hundred yards away as Brennan and the leathery man stood glaring at each other.

Finally Brennan broke the silence and the staring contest, "Look Johnny if this is about us being late again. I'm sorry, we're in a bad place right now and four people living in a five hundred square foot apartment in a rotting building doesn't make it any easier. But Jesse and I will try harder to..."

"Shut up." said his boss as he interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "It's not what I want to talk to you about. Okay, part of it is I suppose." he said as he motioned for Brennan to sit down beside him on one of the empty lunch benches. "Look, you and Jesse are my best workers; but you're constantly late and sometimes you have to leave early to make sure that the girls aren't harassed coming home from work and I understand that, I have seen where you live," he chuckled, "and I have an idea. My wife and I used to own various pieces of property all around the city. We still got a couple; but they are in a bit of disrepair. I'd be willing to offer the both of you one of the properties, rent free, if ya'll did a bit of work fixing it up and keeping it habitable. And maybe in return you and Jesse could find your way to making it to work on time. So what do you think?"

Brennan stared at his boss. A house. A real house. A place where he wouldn't have to worry about Shal being home alone. "We'll take it." He'd tell them all later. They'd be fine with it. He was sure of it.

Continued in Chapter 3...


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lexa glanced up as the feral stepped into the living room wrapped in a terry cloth towel with her hair dripping cold water down her back. Slowly she pushed the napkin wrapped pop-tarts across the cardboard table, which had begun its life as the box the small amount of dishes they had had come in, toward the blonde as a peace offering.

Shalimar strode over to the tiny kitchen alcove and smiled at the other girl. "Don't worry Lexa I'm not all that mad. If you two hadn't woke me up then I would still be asleep and I would not have been able to get in a shower and breakfast both before we have to head off to work."

"Speaking of which," Lexa said with an empty spoon motion towards the blonde's outfit, "You better get dressed quick girl. We have a bus to catch."

The other girl glanced up with a look of confusion all over her face. "What are you talking about? Brennan promised me that he and Jesse would leave the truck for us to use today since it's actually starting to work consistently."

Lexa held Shalimar's gaze as she replied after spooning another mouthful of cereal between her lips, "Well then if that wasn't the Dodge I heard stuttering to life a few minutes after they ran out the door then well, I'll give you the rest of this bowl of cereal."

Quickly the blonde raced over to the tiny dirt streaked window that was the only source of light in the apartment and cursed as she gazed at the now Dodge-empty parking lot. "I'm going to kill him," she muttered as she raced to put on her uniform so they wouldn't miss their bus.

The ebony haired girl hid her smile as she finished off her bowl of fake applejacks and grabbed her tennis shoes from the floor and laced each of them up by balancing on one leg at a time. Brennan's in trouble.

--------

Jesse stared at Brennan while they stood outside the entrance to the girls' work, convinced that his friend had lost what was left of his mind. "You did what?"

"Jess, come on, we need a place to live where we can be alone. A place where we don't all get on each other's nerves. A place where everyone can have his or her own space. And that's what Johnny's offer is; a place we need for now. It'll at least give us a chance to save up some money. The girls could get rid of one of their jobs each so they aren't run so ragged all the time." Brennan locked onto his friend's honey colored eyes, "Come on Jess, the other night Lexa couldn't even stay awake past the previews on that chick flick movie we rented; and those are her and Shal's favorite kind."

The blonde slightly inclined his head in agreement. It was getting harder for all of them; and it would be nice to have a place to call home again. "Alright Brennan, I'll back you on this but you are telling them." and at that he jerked his thumb toward the familiar blonde and brunette who were busy taking orders from extremely tired truckers on the other side of the window inside the Waffle-House.

Brennan nodded. "No problem. They'll love the idea," he said with an air of confidence as he walked through the door into the diner.

Jess followed slowly shaking his head. Please let Brennan ease the girls into the idea instead of just hitting them with it like a Mack truck slamming into a butterfly.

-------

Lexa glanced up and saw Brennan and Jesse talking outside the window. "Hey Shal, your so-called 'gonna be there in the morning truck' just drove up and so did the two who borrowed it. They seem to be agitated about something."

Shal didn't even look up as she continued to count up the bill for one of her tables, "As long as neither one of them lost their job today and I get to hit Brennan for lying to me. I don't really care." She paused as she heard the door open and close behind the two men and watched through the corner of her eyes as they settled at the usual table in the corner. Hmm, Jesse does look nervous. Bren doesn't though, but then again when has Bren ever looked nervous?

The two girls worked quickly getting all the orders out to their respective tables so that they could get off work on time for a change. Shalimar's eyes watched the clock as the minute hand slowly made it's way up to eleven p.m. and at five minutes till she signaled Lexa to write down their own dinner order so that it would be ready to eat the moment they hung their aprons up.

Finally the clock struck eleven and Brennan and Jesse watched in amusement as Shalimar and Lexa elbowed each other in their race to the back room in order to get their time cards signed out. Shalimar won, mainly because Lexa didn't really want to give the feral any reason to remember the circumstances under her wake up call that morning, and so the dark haired girl went ahead and got their order from the grill and brought it out to the table with a side warning for Jesse. "Don't you dare touch any of that side bacon yet."

Jesse grinned, "Wouldn't dream of it dear." and then the moment her back was turned he broke off a small piece and popped it into his mouth. Seconds later however he was coughing and gulping down his water. "Hey, Lexa, you didn't tell me it was straight from the skillet" he whined in an accusatory tone.

"I told you not to touch it didn't I? It's not my fault you didn't listen," she said as she smirked on her way into the backroom as Shalimar came out and slid into the seat beside Brennan who was busy adding salt and pepper to his scrambled eggs.

Once Lexa came back Jesse glanced at Brennan who was concentrating sole on forking his eggs into his mouth. He is finally nervous. I can't believe it. Why don't I ever have a camera when these moments come around?

Shalimar smiled with a predatory hint as she finished counting up her tips and fitting them into the front pocket of her uniform. "How much did you make today Lexa?"

The girl sitting across from her shrugged, "Haven't counted it yet. Hunger way too strong." she said as she slipped another forkful of hash browns into her mouth. Shalimar shrugged in agreement and started to cut up her chicken fried steak into bite size pieces.

Fifteen minutes and two hundred glances from Jesse to Brennan later Lexa put down her fork and reached for the small jelly packet for her toast and decided she'd had enough. "Alright you two, what's up? Something obviously happened today and I'm starting to get afraid that one of you lost your job and since Jess keeps looking at you Bren I think you better open up your damn mouth and tell us what happened before I get mad."

Shalimar nodded and then looked at Lexa to see if she'd caught the flash of relief and fear that flashed across Jesse's face as Brennan set down his orange juice and bowed his head in agreement.

Brennan sat straight up and decided to come straight to the point. "I bought us a house today in an agreement that we do a bit of work on it and keep it up and we get it for at least a full year rent free and um we move in tomorrow and I already called our landlord and told him this was the last time he'd be collecting rent from us. So what do you think?" He stopped and looked at the two girls and then suddenly he wished he hadn't. I am gonna die and they are never going to find my body. Oh God.

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Continued in Chapter 4...

author's note

i am so very sorry for the format this ended up in. the laptop is not working and the computer itself is being so weird so once again...i'm very sorry about the format


	5. Chapter 4

****

Chapter 4.

That night ended up with the four back at their dingy apartment and Shalimar wetting a washcloth to clean up all the blood that amazingly enough was not Brennan's. During the fight that had ultimately ensued once they had left the Waffle House, Jesse for some reason had stepped between Shalimar and Brennan just as Shal's boot came up to kick the offender in the face. Jesse's lip had busted open and bled all down his shirt so now Shalimar was feeling guilty enough to clean up the mess while the other two attempted to pack everything they had acquired over the past few months in the boxes they had picked up at a local U-haul.

Luckily the girls didn't have to work until the day after thanks to some manipulating of their schedules with some of the other waitresses. That way they would be able to unpack and kind of settle in a bit at the house that Brennan had found for them.

None of them got any sleep that night but when the sun came up the next day they had managed to get everything packed into the boxes and then they had crammed those into the back of the truck. The fun part was cramming the four of them into the cab, however, after they had explained to their slum landlord that they were leaving. They could still hear him ranting and raving about the inconvenience of having to find a new set of tenants without any kind of notice as they walked out in the parking lot towards the truck.

The truck was only meant to seat the driver and the passenger and possibly a very skinny person or a three-year old in between. But with Jesse driving and Brennan the passenger both Shalimar and Lexa ended up sitting on the dark-haired man's lap. All during the long trip to the house off the work site Jesse kept giving the other man dark looks every time the truck hit a pothole and Lexa had to grab onto his shoulder in order to keep from flying up into the roof of the truck's cab.

It took forever in Jesse's mind but twenty minutes later they found themselves leaning on the side of the truck staring at the house that was now to be their home. In Shalimar and Lexa's minds it had been longer than forever in that truck and all they wanted to do was sit down and relax but by the looks of things that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon.

_This place is a dump_. Lexa thought as she took in the patched roof, broken shutters, and mainly dirt yard. _He must be joking_.

Shalimar's eyes swept over the house and dirt driveway and then back over to Brennan. _I'm gonna kill him._

Jesse stood back and watched the expressions on the girls' faces flicker from shock to amusement and then to a strange mixture of disbelief and loathing. _This is gonna be fun. I am no longer in any possible way going to be blamed for anything anymore. Everything I could possibly do wrong will pale in comparison to this. _ He stood still waiting for the inevitable shouting to start but when he saw Shalimar's muscles begin to tense he realized he'd better intervene or he would have to explain why Brennan was unable to work for the following week. _And the excuse of 'our female roommate beat him up' probably wasn't going to go over well._

"So, um how 'bout we get this truck unloaded?" He asked casually as he walked around the truck, deliberately between his friend and the two girls, who were obviously plotting the dark-haired man's demise, to undo the tail gate. "I mean Brennan and I only have a few hours left before we have to be at the site."

The girls glanced at him and nodded before finally tearing themselves away from their need to kill Brennan and coming over to help drag the boxes and few bits of furniture inside the house, that in their opinion looked like it was about to fall down up on them the moment they yanked the front door open.

The four worked in silence for a little over an hour until Jesse made an innocent remark that turned into a horrid mistake.

"Hey Lexa, would you mind finding the toaster and making some toast or Pop-Tarts? I'm going to die of hunger here." He said as he and Brennan carried in the last of the mattresses and started to head up the stairs toward one of the bedrooms

Lexa laughed, "sure Jess, where's the box with the kitchen appliances? In the kitchen?"

"No, nothing's been moved from the living room yet. It started to look like rain a little while ago so we've just been putting everything into the living room so it wouldn't get soaked outside. We'll move it all to its respective rooms before we have to leave. Hopefully." the blonde shouted from the top of the stairs.

Lexa tried not to smile in response while she checked the piles of boxes for the ones marked 'kitchen'. Shalimar came in carrying the cd-player and hooked it up to the first outlet she found.

"You know where I managed to finally find the radio Lexa?" she remarked casually as she searched for a decent station to leave it set on.

"No, where?" the brunette asked as she finally spotted the box she needed at the bottom of the pile. Shalimar finally settled on an alternative/rock station that was playing Ozzy Osborne's Crazy Train and spun around to help Lexa move all the boxes so she could get to the one she needed.

"It was actually wedged underneath the driver's seat in the cab. The only reason I even managed to spot it was because its brass red coloring was being reflected on the boy's tools that were loose in the back of the cab."

Lexa glanced up sharply. "You're joking! It was stuffed under the seat! You know if it was something that belonged to one of them they would have wrapped it in bubble wrap and marked it fragile and we would have had to treat it like it was a priceless statue or something."

Shalimar laughed, "oh please Lexa, did you see how many priceless statues that Brennan broke in that museum fight last year?"

Lexa laughed as she pulled out the toaster and got up from her knees to go to the kitchen. "Hey Shal, could you grab the Pop-Tarts from that clothes basket by the door?"

The blonde was still laughing as she shifted through the contents of the basket until she found the box of breakfast. She had just turned towards the hall that led to the kitchen when she heard a startled gasp and the sound of metal clattering against a linoleum floor. She ran to where the brunette had disappeared.

"What's the matter?" she asked as she slid to a stop directly behind the other woman.

"It's missing." Lexa said in disbelief as she stepped aside so the blonde could see the kitchen.

"What? What's missing?" the blonde asked slightly out of breath.

Lexa closed her eyes as if in pain. "The floor Shal. The floor is missing. The counters are also missing."

Shalimar's brow furrowed as she looked around the room and took in the large gaping holes in the floor and the cabinets that had no counter top and no doors. The window was cracked and missing the screen. The fridge and freezer combo was the color of guacamole. The stove and dishwasher were missing. In there place there was instead a big hole with rotted wood at the bottom. Her hands fisted at her sides and she opened her mouth as she closed her eyes, "BRENNAN!"

Continued in Chapter 5.


	6. Chapter 5

****

Chapter 5

Brennan and Jesse had practically run out the door even as Shalimar continued to threaten Brennan with bodily harm for choosing a place that wasn't even livable. Brennan actually was considering not going home after work until Jesse reminded him that if he didn't go back it would just make Shalimar's anger multiply by about a hundred percent. They worked straight through the day until finally their boss sent them home around five that afternoon when he was completely fed up with the two of them.

"What's up man, why are we going home so damn early?" Jesse asked when he told them to go.

"Honestly Jesse I wouldn't mind if you stuck around but since you and Mulwray here are a team you gotta go."

Brennan cringed. It was always a bad sign when your boss called you by your last name.

"Mulwray. Your work today has been beyond shitty. Even that kid from last week had less accidents than you today and dammit the majority of your work was damn near shoddy compared to your usual standard of competence on the job. So basically you are both on a three day weekend leave until you get your heads together and dammit they better be back on straight by the time you come back on Monday so help me God or you will be in a lot of pain. Do you understand me?" he said glaring at the dark haired man standing opposite him.

Brennan nodded, "understood sir."

Jesse laughed as they walked towards the truck after their boss had run off to see why the new kid was hanging upside down from the second story scaffolding.

"Well at least you being scared shitless of Shalimar had one good pay off. We get the whole weekend to work on the house to make it livable for the girls." He shifted the truck into second gear and headed for the smoother road home.

"You know Jess. I've been thinking."

"Damn, that's never good."

"I'm serious here Jess. If we take part of our checks and buy a computer and hook it up to the web do you think you could make up a couple of false documents for me?"

Jesse's brow furrowed as he shifted the groaning transmission up to third gear.

"What kind of documents?"

"Nothing really big." Brennan said, "Just basically a background. I've been thinking about trying to get a job with a salary, something more stable and permanent than this construction crap. The only thing that I can come up with that I am really good at and can still help new mutants at the same time is something that requires a good background."

Jesse laughed, "Sounds like you want to become a cop or something."

Brennan remained quiet. Jesse stopped laughing.

"Are you serious Brennan? You could get killed. Have you talked to Shal about this?"

"It would be a good job and with my connections in the underground I would be able to move up quickly. The police department is offering fifty thousand dollars a year base pay for someone willing to work the graveyard street run. But you have to have a good background and at least four solid years as a street beat cop. That's what I was hoping you'd be able to help with Jess. I need to do this. I need to do something useful. And if I get this position then Shal won't have to scrub other people's dishes and floors. I hate having to watch her go out and work herself to the bone like that. It's not right. So tell me you'll help me man. Tell me."

Jesse stopped the truck in front of the run down house. Brennan stared at him waiting for an answer.

"I'll do it. I was going to get a computer soon anyways and fix my background so I could get this computer tech job I saw listed in the paper. It pays good money too. I don't want to ever have to see Lexa in that damn Waffle House uniform ever again."

-------

The next two days they worked hard on the house fixing it up to livable standards. They put down a floor in the kitchen and replaced the tile and counters in both the kitchen and the three bathrooms. They replaced all the light fixtures and checked the plumbing and electricity.

The men's chance they had been waiting for came on Sunday night when the girls wanted to go back up to Home Depot to change the color of the paint that the boy's had chosen for the living room. It was too yellow. They argued for hours with Jesse who was trying to convince Shalimar and Lexa that a yellow living room would open up the room and be like a natural pick me up on their attitudes when they got home from work since it was so bright. Which then caused an entire argument that he quickly tried to disentangle himself from, about exactly what was wrong with their attitudes, in which he eventually dragged Brennan down with him. Brennan suggested the girls choose the color and while they were doing that he and Jesse would go pick up some groceries to put in the fridge and pantry so they wouldn't starve the next week or so. The girls quieted down at that and agreed.

When they guys picked them back up they didn't even notice the extra purchase the two had made until they got home and they saw them bring it in from the truck. Neither said a word but they shared a glance full of worry as they unpacked the groceries and put them away.

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"Brennan, why did you two buy a computer?" the blonde asked him later on that night as they were lying in bed.

His arms tightened around her slightly as he considered whether he should lie to her or tell her the truth. After a few minutes of contemplation he opted for the truth since she could always somehow tell when he was lying.

"Jess is going to create a false background for both himself and me so we can get better jobs and take care of you and Lexa better."

Shalimar tensed, he wasn't telling her everything. He was holding back. She knew it. That meant he was trying to protect her, shield her from some kind of news that she wouldn't like.

"What else Bren. What are you holding back? Exactly what kind of job are you trying to get that requires you to have a different background?"

She turned over in his arms so that she could see his eyes which were desperately trying to avoid hers.

"What kind of job Brennan?" she asked in a firmer voice.

Brennan sighed, "The police force Shal. I am going to try to get a place on the local P.D."

Shalimar lurched out of his arms and sat up on the bed.

"I thought we all agreed to lay low Brennan."

"We did baby."

"Laying low is not joining the police force Brennan. It's dangerous. You could get hurt. You could get killed." Her voice broke on a sob.

Brennan reached out and pulled her back towards him.

"It's gonna be okay baby. Don't worry so much. Jess is going to fix my background papers to the point that even he wouldn't be suspicious of them okay. And nothing is going to happen to me. I don't want you to worry about this okay honey? Promise me," He said lifting her chin so he could look her in her eyes. "Promise me sweetheart."

"I can't Brennan," Her brown eyes filled up with tears. "I love you so much. I can't promise you that I won't worry." She started to cry again.

Brennan laid there his eyes closed as he held her while she sobbed against him until she had cried herself to sleep. He fell asleep with her in his arms telling himself that she would adjust to the idea even as he berated himself for hurting her. For scaring her. It would be better this way. It would. She'd see it. Eventually.

--------

Jesse finished putting the final touches on both his and Brennan's paperwork and headed upstairs only to find Lexa sitting on the bed wrapped in a blanket looking serious.

"What's going on Jess? And don't tell me nothing because you wouldn't have been at the computer all this time, which by the way you spontaneously bought today, if it was nothing. And don't even think of lying to me." she added when she noticed him begin to hesitate.

"All right babe," Jesse said with a resigned sigh as he sat down next to her on the bed after pulling off his shirt and stepping out of his work jeans so he was comfortable in his boxers and socks. "Honestly Lexa, Brennan asked me to create a history for him so he could try to get on here with the local police force and I decided to go ahead and give myself a good trail in electronics professionally so I could get this tech support job at a software company. We just want to make ourselves better and provide for you two better."

Jesse captured both of Lexa's hands in his own. "I love you babe and I don't want you to have to smell like grits and hash browns all day long. I know you don't like it." he said with a smirk.

Jesse's smile began to falter as Lexa continued to hide from him behind her hair and then as he noticed her shoulders beginning to shake he began to worry.

"Sweetheart, no. No, no, no don't cry. I didn't mean it. I'll go erase everything and work at the construction site forever if that's what you want baby. I'm sorry."

He paused as Lexa lifted her face up to his. She was bubbling over with mirth. In between fits of laughter she managed to choke out a response.

"I love you so much."

The blonde watched in disbelief as the brunette fell against him trembling with her laughter.

"It's no big deal that you both want better jobs," she managed to get out. "As long as you both stay under the government's mutant radar and don't take any chances then it's all fine." She sat up quickly, "but don't be expecting me to stay here all day just because you got a decent job. I'm going to have a job. Okay enough of this" she said laying down and pulling the coverlet over her, "It's time to go to bed. 'Cause we both still got shitty jobs come morning."

Jesse smiled and turned off the lamp before laying down next to the beautiful woman. 'I had better not tell her the job is as a computer tech for the IRS mainframe' he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

****

Continued in Chapter 6...

----------

Author's Note:

Okay. Sorry it took so long. But back on Monday the 20th I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl that we named Lorelei Eden. She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. And 20 inches long. She is so cute!!! But we were in the hospital for several days after the birth and two days before the birth and then her dad had to go back to work and my car is still broken so I couldn't go anywhere with the baby until her dad came back home so I guess it's been awhile.

But anyways, I have the next chapter ready I just have to type it up and then post it. I warn you ahead of time-IT DOES END WITH A CLIFFHANGER. But my mind is absolutely flowing with Mutant X right now so my Harry Potter stories are on hold for the moment. Sorry. Gotta Go Baby needs her diaper changed. Doubt you all even read the author's notes anyways. Bye.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

A full week went by with no news until one day when Shalimar and Lexa came home early from work, permanently, to find a few messages on the answering machine. The first few were from a couple of co-workers of theirs expressing their opinions on the manager's decision to fire the two girls. Shalimar plopped down on the floor and listened to one of the girls say that she can't believe it and that they should appeal to the general manager to get the manager fired and also to get their jobs back.

Lexa snorted as she grabbed two cokes from the fridge and came back into the living room; she tossed one can to the blonde sprawled on the floor.

"So when do you think we'll own a couch?" Lexa joked as she sat down indian style next to her friend.

The blonde's smile disappeared, "It'll take quite a bit longer now. I can't believe I couldn't hold back. That's not like me."

"Shal it wasn't your fault. That man has been harrassing you since you started and even I admit I would not have lasted as long as you did. The first time he ever grabbed my ass he would so not have gotten a sharp word like what you gave him. I would have given him a taste of some streamlined light."

Shalimar began to laugh and Lexa joined in and the two took deep breaths in order to calm themselves as the next message began.

'Hello this is Chief Johnson with the police department. I am calling for Detective Brennan Mulwray about his job application. Basically I'll go ahead and get to the point. We want you to join the force. Give me a call if you're interested before noon tomorrow. We would like you to start as soon as possible. The number is...'

The two girls stared at each other as the message continued. Shalimar's eyes began to tear a bit and Lexa scooted over and took the blonde in her arms and hugged her. She had just begun to calm the girl down when the next message began.

'This is Edward Benson. I'm calling to notify Jesse Kilmartin that his resume has been accepted and that he should report to work on Monday at the Internal Revenue Service building located on...'

The message continued as the girls held onto each other and cried. The news of Jesse working for the IRS didn't come as a suprise to Lexa because the night before after Jesse had fallen asleep she had pulled up all the history files on the computer and found the information about the government being involved that Jesse had tried to omit.

Shalimar draggeed her head up and off of Lexa's shoulder.

"I can't believe he would do this. It's dangerous. It's too close to the government."

Lexa nodded her agreement.

"And they didn't even bother asking us about it really. They just mentioned it after the fact and assume that it's all okay."

Shalimar frowned, "And I don't like the way Brennan suddenly believes I am just going to stay home all the time. No way."

Lexa frowned as well while a plan began to form in her mind.

"Well who says they get to have all the fun?" she asked.

Shalimar looked at her confused.

"What are you thinking about Lexa?"

"I've watched Jesse make backgrounds for some of the mutants we've put into the underground. I could make us some histories of some sort. There's no way I am staying home every day. Besides we need to help new mutants otherwise the Dominion wins the war and Adam's sacrifice was for nothing."

Shalimar nodded. She glanced up at the clock.

"There's about an hou and a half before they get home form the job site. Can you do it in that amount of time?"

She looked at the burnette who bit her lip and then downed her drink.

"Only one way to find out." she said as she stood up and went over to where the computer stood on cinder blocks that were set up as a desk slash table.

Shalimar followed her and pulled up a taped moving box for a seat next to her friend. She watched as the other girl started manuvering her way through all of Jesse's programs. Finally she pulled up the right program and then Shalimar watched as Lexa's hands paused over the keys.

"Um, what kind of job do you want to have?" she asked the blonde next to her.

"Oh, uh, well when I was little I wanted to be a gymnast." Shalimar said slowly.

"Um, Shal, jobs for gymnasts really aren't in demand right now. But maybe there is something close." she said as she ran a local job search. "Here we go, the local high school is looking for both an art teacher and a teacher for their girl's gym class."

Shalimar bit the inside of her lip, "so we'd work together and be able to help teen mutants around the school. It's really a good idea. The majority of new mutants I've noticed around here are teens. But the question becomes," she paused and shared a look with Lexa, "are you ready to have to deal with the annoying hormonal rampant teenage boys."

Lexa laughed and her hands shook as she began to type all the history that the two of them would need to become shoo-ins for the positions.

"Honestly," Lexa said once she managed to stop laughing, "I will put up with one hundred randy teenage boys in order to make enough money to buy a car that actually runs and to do it without the boy's help."

Shalimar nodded. "I am so sick of Brennan saying he'll take care of me. I don't need him to baby me. I can take care of myself."

"Besides," Lexa added, "Brennan chose this house for us all to live in and I have to say if he really thinks that this place is livable then I really wouldn't trust him enough to take care of a hamster let alone you, Shal."

**-----**

For the next hour while Lexa fixed their backgrounds the two continued to poke fun at both Jesse and Brennan until the point that when Lexa was done and Brennan and Jesse walked in the two girls were rolling on the floor in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"Hey, what's up with the two of you?" Brennan asked as he squatted down next to the two giggling pixies.

"We never should have bought those Dr. Peppers man," Jesse joked, "I told you that caffeine messed with your internal body structure in weird ways." He tried pulling Lexa up into a sitting position and started laughing himself when she batted away his hands like a four year old and then fell back hitting her head on the floor.

"Owww!" Lexa sobered up as her eyes filled up with tears.

"Oh, poor baby." Jesse said as he gathered up the dark haired girl in his arms and started to rub her back, "It's okay sweetheart."

Brennan pulled Shalimar up off the floor and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of wheat.

"Now girlie, what were you two laughing like loonies for? You better tell me or I'm going to drop you on your blonde head." To emphasize his point he let go of her for a split second and let her drop about two inches towards the ground.

"You have messages on the answering machine." she shouted as the blood rushed to her head. "Put me down now Brennan or else you have to cook dinner tonight!" she added in a threatening tone.

Quickly he did some fancy moves and the blonde found herself deposited on her feet with a slap on her butt as he walked over to the answering machine and hit the 'Play' button.

Shalimar walked over quickly and hit the fast forward so that the boys didn't hear the messages from their ex-coworkers.

The moment the two messages had finished the two were arguing over who got to call first when a persistant beeping caught their attention.

"What the hell is making that noise?" Lexa asked.

Shalimar followed the sound over to where she had tossed her jacket when they had gotten home. She reached into the pocket as the others came up behind her. She withdrew her hand and stared at the object on her palm that had finally stopped beeping.

"Isn't that your comm ring?" Jesse questioned her.

"Yeah...I didn't want to just get rid of it. It has sentimental..." her voice broke off suddenly as a hologram appeared above the rihng and it began what appeared to be a pre-recorded message.

"Oh my god, Adam." Brennan said just before the message began.

_"Hello team. If this is now showing up then unfortunately I was detained and there are now a few things I must come clean on. First you must promise to do as I say even though you will probably hate me after this. One year ago I altered your memories. I erased a full year of your lives. And I took something from you that I must now return."_

The four watched in stunned silence as the hologram Adam hesitated and a look of pain and regret flashed across his face.

_"I took your children."_

**Continued in Chapter 7...**

**--------**

Author's Note.

It's interesting typing with an infant on your lap and managing to hold a bottle for her breakfast at the same time. But anyways hope you all liked the chapter. I told you all from the beginning that this chapter would end on a cliffhanger. I'm sorry. And I am also sorry to tell you that the next two chapters do the exact same thing.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The moment the hologram of Adam had explained what he meant and then spoke the phrase that released the memories he had kept from them Shalimar had flown from the room. Brennan had stormed out the back door while Lexa had slammed the front behind her. The hologram had disappeared saying the second message was locked into Jesse's old comm ring and they could access it when they felt ready.

**--------**

Jesse sat at the computer alone and completely dumbfounded. A year. One full year gone. Changed at least. Altered. Now there were two sets of memories floating through his mind. Some had been left alone but other memories had been erased completely. Conversations skipped. Images fuzzed wherever the girls were concerned. How could they not have known. How could he not have realized.

He hung his head and sat with it resting in his hands. Images flashed through his mind. Memories that he now knew were true.

**FLASH**

_Lexa collapsed back on the bed as a small shrill cry resonated in the room. He stroked the sweat streaked hair back from her face and neck as she closed her eyes a small smile on her face. A person in scrubs tapped him on the shoulder as he turned around just as the doctor finished wrapping the baby and depositing it in his arms._

_Slowly he sat in the chair beside the bed where Lexa lay and pulloed a corner of the recieving blanket back in order to show her the child's face._

_Lexa opened her eyes and gazed at the child and then looked up at him and smiled. "He's beautiful. What should we call him?"_

_He looked down at the now sleeping infant. "How about Iain? Iain Michael."_

_Lexa reached over and stroked her son's cheek. "Welcome to the world Iain Michael Kilmartin."_

**END FLASH**

Jesse stood up so fast he kncoked the chair over. Lexa. He needed to find Lexa. They needed to talk. Now.

**---------**

Lexa stood still, took aim, and fired. The bullet flew from the gun and took some of her frustration with it as it tore through the center of the target at the other end of the field. How dare he! How dare Adam take a year of their lives from them! And how could he take her son! Her son. Her and Jesse's son. She fired again this time striking over three inches away from even the edge of the target. She cursed softly under her breath when a memory resurfaced as she began to load new rounds inot the pistol's chamber.

**FLASH**

_She had been working out with Shalimar in the Training Room when Adam had walked by laughing like a loon when Shalimar asked him what was so funny he just shook his head and commented that maybe Lexa would like to go check on her husband in their room._

_Thinking to herself that there really hadn't been much to laugh about lately what with all the new trouble they had been having recently she had gone to see what had Adam in such a good mood. At the doorway of her and Jesse's room she stopped and smothered a laugh with her hand. Iain was laying diaperless in the middle of a blanket spread on the bed and Jesse was using a washcloth to wipe at something on his shirt while talking to the squirming infant._

_"Bet you thought that was funny didn't you. Daddy finally figures out that you are crying because of a dirty diaper and then when daddy manages to get the diaper off you pee on him. Real funny kiddo."_

_She couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing._

_Jesse's head swung around. "Oh so you are just gonna stand there laughing at me. You could help you know."_

_She stopped laughing and walked over and picked up a clean diaper and laid it across the front of her son's groin._

_"First off, always keep a clean diaper over him so what just happened doesn't happen again..."_

**END FLASH**

Lexa took a deep breath and bent down to pick up the bullets she'd dropped. Slowly she unloaded the other rounds that had actually made it into the pistol's chamber and put them back into the box and walked over to the counter where she dropped off the gun and box with the waiting attendant. She should find Jesse. They needed to talk.

---------

The music blared in the background but up at the bar Brennan didn't hear even a single guitar riff or drum solo. He slumped over the counter and with his head in his hands he tried to count the number of empty shot glasses in front of him. All his life when he'd have a problem he would end up going to a bar. It never failed. Always a bar. This bar was nice and dark. His type of place. He knew that from now on if he had another problem he would always came back here. Hell he'd live here if they'd allow him and if he knew that Shal wouldn't kill him. He was toasted. Completely gone. The shot glasses kept swimming in and out of his vision. The alcohol wasn't doing anything to help him solve his problem either and this time Shal wouldn't be coming to drag his ass back home to dump him in a cold shower to wake up. Shal. His Shal. They had a baby. A daughter. A girl. He had a baby girl. A baby girl with Shal. With his beautiful Shal. His wife.

**FLASH**

_He stood still, so still, almost like a statue. His face was even starting to turn a little white as his stomach turned into a million tiny knots. He was so nervous inside that he was considering jumping over the railing and out the window until Jesse, who covered up a laugh with a cough, elbowed him in the back as the music began and Lexa walked forward in a light blue dress to stand next to Jesse._

_Then the march began and Shalimar came down the asile. She was beautiful. More than that. She was like an angel. A vicious angel he was reminded later on when he playfully paused a few seconds before saying 'I do' and her eyes flashed golden as her fingernails dug into the skin of his arm. Laughing Adam told them to hurry up with it because it had been so long coming and the minister nodded and told him to kiss his bride. He smiled and turned Shalimar around to face him and when she wouldn't stop laughing he resorted to desperate measures._

_"Hey, you just promised to obey me. So as my first command I demand you stop laughing so that I can kiss you." he said in a mockingly serious tone._

_Shalimar's face turned to stone. "I did not promise to obey you," she swiveled on her foot to face the minister, "I did not promise to obey him did I? Tell me I didn't."_

_The minister shook his head no and she turned back around to yell at him for making her believe that she had but before she she could get the words out he swooped down and capturered her lips in a deep kiss._

_He pulled back gently and looked into her eyes, "I love you Shalimar."_

_She smiled with a sleepy look on her face, "I love you too, Brennan."_

_"So when's the honeymoon?" Jesse asked and then yelped afterwards when Lexa smacked him upside the back of the head._

_"Moron."_

**END FLASH**

Brennan picked himself up off the counter and motioned to the bartender.

"Water. Lots of water."

For the next hour he drained glass after glass of water until he found himself shockingly sober. I need to get home. Need to go home to Shal. She won't be there. She'll be out. But where? Brennan stood up so fast he practically knocked over the entire row of stools at the counter when his toppled to the floor. I need to find Shal.

**----------**

****

**To Be Continued in Chapter 8...**

sorry about the Cliffhanger folks-but i did say that was what was going to happen now didn't i? who's wondering what's going on through Shalimar's head right now...and what does Adam tell them in the second message? only i know...


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8.**

The grass swayed around her as she stared up at the stars in the sky. She found herself recounting all the myths for all the constellations she could name and making up stories for the ones that she couldn't quite remember.

She was distracting herself. Telling herself that Adam was lying. She would have known if she'd had a child. Especially with Brennan. These were the fake memories. The ones Adam had unleashed. They were wrong. She never could have forgotten her own child. She wasn't her mother. She wasn't. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the flowers around to calm herself down.

She'd found this place the day after they had moved in. She'd seen a rat behind one of the cabinets in the kitchen that she was trying to patch up and she had found herself so mad at Brennan that if she didn't cool down soon she probably would have really injured him. So she had gone for a walk and she found this. She'd been walking through the tall grass figuring they would now have to buy a lawn mower when she had stumbled across it literally. It was a hollow about eight feet in diameter and was completely filled with forget-me-nots. None of the grass could grow in the hollow it was so full of the tiny blue flowers.

Shalimar smiled. The flowers scent calmed her mind and body. It relaxed her. For the first time in her entire life she felt comfortable in her won skin. She could forget she was a new mutant. Different from everyone else. She just was. All the pain that she had felt as a child unloved and as a teenager teased and tormented and as a broken and damaged adult was healed and forgotten here. In this fairy ring.

Shalimar's eyes opened and she bit the inside of her mouth as one of the memories Adam had given her surfaced. Her eyes slid shut again in pain.

**FLASH**

The sun was beating down gently and the wind pulled playfully at her hair as she attempted to give her daughter her first picnic outside.

"Look, Emma, a butterfly" she said as she picked her daughter up out of the carrier and set her down on the blanket she'd already laid out over the grass. She watched in amusement as the tiny bundle of purple crawled after the monarch that was fluttering from buttercup to buttercup.

Smiling softly to herself she turned to the basket beside her and began to set out the food she had packed for herself and the baby jars she'd packed for Emma.

Glancing over she saw that Emma was almost off the blanket and she crawled over and deftly picked up the infant and plopped back down on the checkered blanket with her in her lap.

"Now, Emma, if I let you go will you stay on the blanket like a good baby?" she asked her daughter with laughter in her voice. She was a perfect blend of her and Brennan. Dark curls framed a heart shaped face that had shocking golden eyes that stared out at you. The tiny bundle cooed in response to her question and Shalimar laughed as she set her back down on the blanket and went back to setting up the

picnic.

A few minutes later she found what she had initially been looking for and turned around to give Emma her bottle of juice.

"Emma, I've got some yummy yummy apple juice for you....Emma?" Shalimar took in the empty blanket and surged to her feet. "Emma!"

Frantically she searched the grass surrounding the blanket as she turned in circles.

"Emma! Baby where are you?" she called out almost hysterically. She heard a twig snap behind her in the direction of the trees and raced towards the sound swearing she would kill whoever took her daughter.

When she reached the forest she stood and listened for another clue. When none came she panicked.

"Please give me back my baby. Please." she sobbed.

The tree limbs to her right swayed and Shalimar spun around to face...

"Brennan! What the fuck! Why would you do that!" she asked furiously as she plucked their daughter out of his arms and headed back to the picnic area.

Looking ashamed and guilty he followed her and sat down beside her on the blanket while she held Emma's juice bottle for her.

"Shal. I'm sorry. I know that won't fix it but I am sorry. I just. I don't know....Shal I am worried about you. You never let Emma out of your sight. It won't kill you to leave her with someone else and take a couple hours off."

"I know that Brennan...I do. I just can't." she replied honestly.

He sighed, "Well you have to. Tonight Adam is going to watch both Iain and Emma because he needs us to go and follow up on a lead he received on a new mutant. No arguments."

"Fine," she smiled slightly for his benefit. "No arguments. I just feel weird Brennan...like something bad is going to happen."

**END FLASH**

In the hollow Shalimar frowned and opened her eyes. _Something bad did happen dammit! Adam stole my child that night. And then he forced me to forget Emma. He turned me, completely involuntarily, into my own mother. How dare he! How dare he think he had that right!_

Shalimar stood up and started for the house at a neck-break speed. _I want my baby back. Now_.

**Continued in Chapter 9...**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9.**

Shalimar raced into the empty house and frantically searched for the ring that would give her all the answers that she needed_. Damn you Adam. Damn you_. Finally she found it attached to the back of the television linking the DVD and VCR cords together. _What the hell were you trying to do Jesse_?

_Now how the hell do you work this thing_? She thought as she turned the ring over and over in her hands trying to figure out its secret. Two hours later she finally gave up and sat down on the floor facing the front door like a parent who is waiting for their errant child to come home well after curfew. She sat there, not moving a muscle, just waiting for the others to come back.

A couple of hours passed before the door opened and Lexa came into the house dripping wet with an annoyed expression as she noticed Jesse wasn't there.

"Aagghh! Where is he!" she asked exasperated. Shalimar shrugged her shoulders as Lexa plopped down on the floor next to her.

"Lexa what do you remember?" she asked quietly after they had sat there for thirty minutes in total silence. She watched as the dark haired woman bit her lip slightly before replying.

"I remember everything. But it's odd. Some of my memories overlap others. Some take place at the same time as something else. For example I know I gave birth on Halloween to Iain. However I also have a memory that tells me that on Halloween we were dealing with some kind of persuasive mutant."

Shalimar nodded. "I remember being seven months pregnant at that time but I also remember the girl entering through Brennan's mind and us having to protect him from himself. It's so odd. I don't know what's really real and what's not. I can't quite separate the fact from the fiction." She shook her head as if the motion could somehow force the fake memories to just go away. "All I know is that on Christmas Day I gave birth to a baby girl we named Emma and then a few months later Adam stole her from me. He more than stole her really. He erased her. I hope we never find Adam, Lexa. I'll kill him."

Lexa stole a glance at the blonde to see whether or not she was joking but when her mind registered the other girl's honest loathing of Adam she realized she felt the same way. "You're right Shalimar. Adam had no right to try and play God."

They leaned in to each other for support and waited for the other two to arrive home. Which they promptly did at midnight. But before either Jesse or Brennan could get out a single word Shalimar threw the ring at Jesse and said three words.

"Make it work."

"Now" added Lexa.

Jesse nodded noting the anger in both girls and opened his mouth to say something but when Brennan elbowed him in the side and motioned at Shalimar's expression he changed his mind and set out to get the message out of the ring. Shalimar was very angry. In fact the word angry didn't really apply anymore. She was a feral whose child had been taken away. Not a good situation.

Deep in his mind he fought with himself. _Adam is going to have to apologize to her in a major way when we find him. Find him! Ha! You better hope Shalimar never finds Adam or all you'll ever find afterwards are pieces. Remember the special on Channel 13 last month where they took the lion's cub to show how protective, paternal and territorial they are? That is what a feral is and that is what she will do to Adam._

As Jesse ran a pin over the inside of the ring suddenly there was a flash of blue light and once again there was a hologram of Adam. Behind him on the bed you could see two children sleeping peacefully; a blonde haired little boy who looked a few months shy of a year old and a curly dark haired girl next to him who appeared to be a few months younger than him.

Shalimar felt her eyes tear up a bit and she felt like she was about to weep as she realized all the time that she had lost with her precious Emma she couldn't get back. _I have probably missed her first steps by now._ Suddenly she felt a weight on her shoulders and glanced to the side to see Brennan had come to sit next to her on the floor and had slung his arm over her shoulders.

"By now you all have most likely remembered the majority of what was suppressed." the holographic version of Adam said. "I imagine that Shalimar along with the rest of you are very angry at me but please hear me out. When I preformed a regular checkup on both Iain and Emma I also ran a test to see what their powers would manifest as in order to help them learn to control it at a young age. That's when I found that not only do both of the children have combination powers but the age expectancy gene was dormant. I immediately became concerned for their welfare. Lexa if your old bosses or if anyone from the old GSA found out about this they would have, for lack of a better word, harvested your children's DNA. Then I was informed by an old collegue of mine that the government was considering rebuilding the GSA with a large amount of government funding in order to catch us. Whom they had labeled as rogue experiments. With the children all of you had changed in the ways you would go on missions. You were all more reserved, careful, but sometimes you would refuse. Like Shalimar. You hadn't gone on a single mission since Emma was born until tonight. Tonight I realized what must be done. In order for you all to survive I must take away what is holding you back. I had to take away Iain and Emma. So I sent you all out on a fake mission in order to hide the two with families in the underground. Only there was another problem. My informant contacted me again just as I was about to leave. They knew about the children and their DNA and now they were looking for them. My informant told me their bosses were so desperate to find them that they would go as wide scale as another slaughter of the innocents practically. So then I knew I couldn't hide the children in this time. So I went to another old friend. One who helped me track Shalimar down in the beginning."

"Amara." Shalimar breathed her voice slightly choked.

The hologram Adam continued, "Together she and I went to the past. Twenty years ago to be

precise and placed them in families where I knew they would be safe. I purposely placed them in different families in case something should happen and they found out I sent the babies into the past then I wanted to make it more difficult for them to find Emma and Iain. I even left my younger self a note to watch these two children grow up but to never interfere or go near them unless absolutely necessary. I am sorry. But it was necessary. If you turn on Brennan's old ring it will give you the very latest information on where to find your children. Remember though. I sent them into the past far enough back so that the GSA wouldn't be suspicious of them. I'm sorry but they are most likely not even children anymore." and with that the hologram blinked out and the four sat there stupidly until Brennan took his ring off of the chain he wore around his neck.

"Good thing we all kept our comm rings." Lexa said to try to lighten the mood.

Jesse forced a small laugh, "Yeah."

He took the ring from Brennan and pushed the small button hole with the pen and watched as Adam popped up again this time with the background of the hideout they had finally found him in right before he was taken by The Creator.

"Alright. Today is June 3rd of 2004. I sent both Iain and Emma back to June 17th of 1983. They are going to turn 21 on their respective birthdays this year. Both of their families were explained to the majority of the reasons why I had to send them into the past. They were instructed to tell both Iain and Emma these facts when they turned eighteen. Among those facts are that they do belong in the future and a copy of your pictures so they will know who you are when you come for them. Over their years I have managed to keep their powers dormant by a sub-durmal govenor chip attached to their back of their necks. I inserted it beneath the skin in order to keep up appearences. Pressing the button on Lexa's ring will deactivate them. I recommend doing this when they have already accepted the past and are hopefully living with you all so you can train them on how to control their powers. And on a rather interesting note when Emma's foster family sent her to the local community college a year ago she met Iain who was there just hanging out with some friends. They immediately were attracted to each other and are now married." A panel in the hologram behind him beeped, "Intruder Alert." The holographic Adam laughed, "Well speak of the devils. Here you all come to save me. Well I had better hurry up and give you the last few pieces of information. The foster families are expecting you. They will arrange a get together with Iain and Emma in a comfort zone for Emma so she doesn't get too emotional or stressed. Oh yeah, Iain and Emma are expecting their first child, a girl, who is to be born around Thanksgiving of this year so try not to upset her too much and don't give her her powers back until after the birth. You all are at the front gates so I have to go. I've uploaded the names and addresses of the foster families into all four rings. Be careful...you must press them in perfect synch in order for the names and addresses to show up and you don't want to mess up and accidentally deactivate the governor chips. Good luck. I'm sorry." and with that the Adam hologram disappeared.

**Continued in Chapter 10...**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10...**

Shalimar sat there dumbfounded for almost fifteen minutes. The others were just as lost but were a little more worried about how Shalimar would take it. Ferals by nature were predators, protective and territorial. Adam had basically just challenged every single instinct nature had given her. He had invaded her territory stole her child and now in her mind it was time to hunt.

_I lost her. He stole her from me and now I have lost her. I will never see her first step or hear her first word. I didn't get to dry her tears at her first day of kindergarten. I missed all her school activities, her prom, all they guys she brought home. She's getting married. She's going to have a baby of her own. Why would he do this? Why? It's not fair. It's not fair._ A solitary tear slid down her cheek and she sniffled softly.

Lexa still sat next to Shalimar but didn't offer comfort as she was lost in her own pain. _He's about to be legal and I missed it. Everything. Little league games, school, homework assignments. Learning to ride a bike. Scraping his knees. I missed it. I can't believe this. He's getting married. He's going to have a child. Why would Adam do this to us?_ Lexa stood up suddenly and walked up the stairs without a glance behind her.

Jesse watched the dark haired woman go knowing that if he went upstairs something breakable would just be thrown at his head. He had no clue why but whenever something went wrong Lexa always tended to blame him.

Brennan had watched out of the corner of his eye as Lexa had stalked up the stairs. He also noticed that Jesse had not gone immediately after her. _Smart man_. But alas he could not himself exert that kind of self control.

"Shalimar. Shal, baby. Are you okay." He asked softly as he bent down and rested his wait on the balls of his feet in front of her.

"I'm fine." The words were said so softly that he almost didn't catch them. Suddenly the blonde stood up and arched her back. "If you'll be so kind as to excuse me I have an interview tomorrow early in the morning and I need to be at my best for it. Good night." She walked up the stairs at a normal pace and fairly frightened the two men she had left behind. She had been acting normal. As if nothing was wrong. But something was wrong.

The two men exchanged a glance before getting extra blankets out of the closet and setting up some makeshifts beds for themselves down there on the living room floor. When Shal didn't show any emotion it was a bad sign. It meant she was holding it all in and that soon she would burst with it. Then as Brennan drifted off to sleep he remembered Shal's parting words. _What interview?_

The next morning the men woke up to find themselves all alone in the house. Both Shalimar and Lexa were gone and yet their Wafflehouse uniforms were still hanging on the rope outside drying. This was not good. And still Shalimar's parting phrase echoed in Brennan's mind. _What interview?_

Giving up on the thought for the moment he picked up the phone and called back the police department and set up an interview for the following day. Jesse took his hint and set his up for about twenty minutes later to make sure that they would have enough time playing round robin with the truck. _Hopefully the girls wouldn't take it again without telling them. At least if they needed it they could drop the guys off at their interviews first._

Brennan's mind was plagued with what Shalimar had said for the entire time that he worked on the kitchen floor that morning. Finally when Jesse was attempting to make each of them a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches he glanced over at the computer and a thought occurred to him.

"Hey Jess. How do you pull up the last thing worked on this damn computer?"

Jesse's brow furrowed as he glanced up towards his friend sitting with his fingers dangerously close to the keyboard.

"Give me a second and I'll pull up the last few pages activated." He turned his attention to the sandwiches and flipped one over uttering a few curses as he flipped the rest. _Damn. I burnt them again. Well it's not like he could make them any better. They'll be fine once we soak them in some vegetable soup anyways._

"Why do you want to know the last pages anyway?" he asked as he loaded the crispy sandwiches onto a plate and poured the soup on the stove into a couple of chipped bowls.

"Something Shal said last night about an interview and the way both she and Lexa disappeared this morning without a word struck some kind of chord in me I guess."

Jesse walked over and set his attempt at cooking down on the crate that served as a table and shoved Brennan out of the chair. "My computer."

His fingers flew at the keyboard for a few minutes in silence while Brennan tried to scrape the black crust off of his grilled cheese only to realize that once he got through the black he was at the cheese. It was charred all the way through. _Whew._ "Hey remind me not to let you cook when we are able to buy real meat."

Jesse's brow creased in a frown and he hit a final key. "Looks like the girls took our idea."

"What do you mean?" Brennan asked as he spat back out the spoonful of cold soup he had taken.

"Well the last two pages activated were job applications for the local high school. Their interviews were this morning at eight."

"Well then why the hell aren't they home right now? It's after one o'clock."

"Don't ask me. I don't know. I'm not telekinetic you know." Jesse said in exasperation. Shrugging he picked up one of the bowls of soup and drank half of the liquid down before he could register that he hadn't cooked it very well at all. In fact the soup was so cold he shivered as it slid down his throat.

"Well I'm not going to sit around here all day. I'm going for a jog." Brennan stormed upstairs and threw on some exercise clothes and grabbed a waterbottle from beside his bed before turning around and heading downstairs to go out the door.

Jesse watched his friend escape the house and shook his head as he threw the remainder of the food into the trash can beside him. He muttered as he stalked off into the kitchen. "Not like I needed any help with finishing the tile in the kitchen or anything Brennan. Enjoy your little jog."

Shalimar lounged on one of the chairs outside the principal's office while Lexa finished up her interview. _God she is taking forever. Come on Lex, this isn't rocket science here. Just tell the man you like art. I am hungry. And that little jerk over there hasn't stopped staring at me since I got out of my interview. Ewww. Did he just lick his lips at me?_ Shalimar rolled her eyes at the boy indicating her disgust. _I bet he isn't a day over 15_. Shalimar sighed in relief as the door to the office opened and the principal Mr. Benson came out shaking Lexa's hand.

"Welcome to Lincoln High. Enjoy the rest of today. You both start tomorrow. First class is at 8:30am sharp but we will have a teachers' meeting to introduce you to the rest of the staff at 7:30am. Your day ends at 3:15pm for classes and then you have another two hours on the job either doing detention duty or preparing lesson plans or in your case Ms. Fox giving some of our students extra training so that we have a better chance at state this year. Got it? Good. See you both in the morning." The balding middle aged man sauntered back into his office after his little speech as if he was the king and this was his country.

Lexa wiped the fake smile off her face and started for the door along with Shalimar. "Can you believe how arrogant that pompous windbag is? He asked me to draw something for him before he would agree to give me the job even though he had my portfolio in his hands."

Shalimar laughed, she really hadn't had to do much to get her job. He couldn't seem to take his eyes away from her chest. Personally she figured he gave her the job because he would occasionally be able to walk in on her in the gym training the girls in what he supposed she would be wearing. _He probably thinks it will be spandex. _

The two women made their way through the maze of the school slowly trying to memorize as much as they could. Just as they were fixing to turn the corner Shalimar sniffed the air a bit.

Lexa turned, "What is it?"

"Fear."

"Okay. Like that isn't what every kid is feeling in here. Someone just has a test they didn't study for. Come on. Let's go."

Shalimar shook her head. "No, Lex. It's not that kind of fear. This is true fear." She pivoted on her heel and turned down a right hand corridor they had just passed and began to jog down the path and take so many turns that Lexa finally lost sight of her.

"Dammit."

Shalimar crept up on the door where the scent was coming from and saw it was the girl's bathroom. Carefully she pulled the door open and walked inside. There was no one readily in sight. She turned her attention to the stalls and when she did she saw a pair of sketchers standing on top of the toilet seat of the last stall.

"Hello? I know someone is in here. My name is Shalimar Fox. I'm the new girls' gym teacher. Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" She perched up on the dry section of the counter behind her.

"Why do you think something is wrong?" a voice quavered from the stall.

Shalimar took a breath, "Well it's the end of classes. Which means if I am not mistaken, that you should either be in study hall or out in the gym. But instead you are hiding here. In the first floor girl's bathroom. So I am going to go out on a limb and say you are supposed to be in gym, considering study hall is all on the second and third floors, and something happened and now you are in here."

"Look you can't help me. Just go away."

Shalimar bit back the response of 'fine' and then pretending to go out the door and then just wait. Biting her lip she thought for a minute. _God, she sounds just like I did just before Adam found me. I didn't think anybody could help me. I didn't know there were others like me. I thought I was just a freak._

"STOP! STOP IT!" the girl screamed and sobbed at the same time

Shalimar wondered what the hell the girl was talking about and then remembered she had been tapping the countertop with her fingernails and figured that was it.

"Maybe if you told me what was wrong I could help. But if you are so certain I can't then how about we settle for a normal conversation."

"Okay." the girl replied hesitantly.

"My name is Shalimar. What's yours?"

"Cassandra. Cassandra DeVine. I'm a sophomore." she added as a second thought.

Shalimar decided to take an easy approach to the girl. She still smelled of fear. No where near as much as before but it was still there. "Are both your parents French or just one?" She smiled even though no one could see her. With that one question she had almost eliminated all of the girl's fear.

"Just one. My father...well I assume my father. He died before I was born and my mother just kept the name on my birth certificate even though they weren't married. My mother is Greek."

Shalimar smiled again, the girl's hand was on the handle of the door. There was only the smallest amount of fear left around her.

"So if you don't mind me asking. What exactly brought you in her Cassandra?"

The girl came out of the stall and hopped up on the counter next to Shalimar. Just as Shalimar had thought Cassandra belonged in gym. Her tee-shirt and shorts attested to that fact.

"I don't know really. Suddenly it all just became too much." Cassandra's brow furrowed a bit as she tried to sort out what she meant. "It was kinda like an overload. It's happened before but never this bad. Usually I can calm down enough that I can return to class within five minutes."

Shalimar nodded even though inside she wondered about the girl's answer. Cassandra wasn't lying peruse. But it wasn't the whole truth. She had been overloaded but not just with stress like she was trying to insinuate. Suddenly a violent knock at the door caused both females to jump off the counter guiltily.

"Miss DeVine if you are in there you better come out now or I will flunk you just because of the hassle you have caused me. Do you hear me!" An angry man's voice shouted through the door. "Fine then. I'm coming in and I am going to drag you to the principal's office! You are going to be expelled young lady!"

The door burst open as if he had kicked it open and in response to the fear she once again felt rolling off the girl Shalimar made a quick decision. Her heel caught him square in his middle as he stormed angrily into the bathroom.

"Ooof."

"I don't know if it penetrated your thick skull but this is a women's bathroom and teacher or not you are not allowed in here." Shalimar said calmly but firmly as she dragged him by his collar out of the bathroom and into the hall where students were standing about in curiosity considering the bell had just rung and they had heard all the shouting.

"The next time you feel like terrorizing a student with empty threats I would hope you would ask a female teacher to enter the bathroom for you because if I ever see you near the door to any girl's bathroom ever again I will personally make sure that you are fired. Do you understand me?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he roared at her.

Shalimar stood in front of him unaffected by his show of bravado. "I'm Shalimar Fox. The new gym teacher." A couple of female students in the crowd clapped and she figured those might be a few of her gymnasts. She watched the big dumb ox of a man until he disappeared from view and then she opened the door of the bathroom only to find Cassandra gone. _Dammit. I guess I'll just have to see her in class tomorrow._

Lexa turned the corner and saw all the students just milling around and wanted to laugh. _ Teens._ "Hey! Either move on to wherever you need to be or receive a weeks worth of detentions." she called out in the most authoritative voice she could muster. Within twenty seconds the hallway was clear and she turned to her blonde friend.

"So. Did you find the source of all the fear?"

"Yea." Shalimar started to walk back out of the maze of hallways to the parking lot.

"And?"

"I'm not sure."

Lexa opened the door to the beat-up truck and raised an eyebrow at her friend. "What do you mean you aren't sure?"

Shalimar sighed as she started the ignition. "She was definitely afraid and it wasn't normal school stuff. She doesn't trust easily either. I had just got her to come out of the stall when that dumb ox came and pounded on the door like he was a member of the inquisition. She has my gym class though. I'll see if she will talk to me tomorrow."

"Okay. So...what do you think? Shopping. Or taking the truck back to the boys?" Lexa asked as she fastened her seatbelt.

"We're gonna take the truck back. They are probably wondering where we got to anyways." Shalimar said with a slight smile as she shifted the truck into reverse and pulled out of the parking space. "Hell they are probably crying right now considering they had to eat their own cooking for lunch." They laughed as they drove down the road back towards their project house.

Brennan hung his head as he started down the final leg of his jog which was the mile long driveway to the house. _Damn I'm tired. What the hell is that?_ Off in the distance to the side of the house he could see a smudge of color. As he got nearer the smudge gave way to an outline that he recognized and he put on a burst of speed. _They're back._

Jesse looked up from where he had just laid the last tile in the kitchen to the door that had just opened. In strolled Lexa and Shalimar like they didn't have a care in the world.

"So where've you two been all day?" he asked glancing at the clock that read 4 pm.

"Oh we had interviews this morning." Lexa said not taking her eyes off of his while Shalimar started towards the newly painted white fridge. "Why did you need the truck."

Jesse grabbed onto Shalimar's leg as she tried to pass him. "No way, girl. Fresh tile. Needs at least twelve hours to set. Twenty four is best but I can't expect that to actually happen but twelve will unless you want the floor to revert to what it looked like before."

Shalimar gave the blonde man a glare and stomped off in the direction of the stairs. Jesse turned his attention back to his counterpart.

"No, we didn't need the truck today but we do need it tomorrow. We have interviews at nine and nine thirty in the morning. So we'll be needing the truck tomorrow."

"Well then you are going to have to drop me and Shal off at Lincoln High at about 7:15 in the morning then and pick us back up somewhere around 5pm alright? Because we have to go to work." Lexa told him as she unbuttoned her jacket and draped it on the bottom of the banister.

"So what are we doing for dinner?"

"We?" Lexa asked her eyebrows up high in surprise. "What do you mean we? You are the one that closed off the kitchen. And isn't it your night to cook anyways?"

Jesse hung his head and laughed before meeting her eyes. "Trust me you don't want me to cook dinner. Doing the kitchen floor today was to the benefit of everyone. Why don't we just eat at WaffleHouse tonight? I mean you and Shal still have to work there until you put in your two weeks notice you know."

Lexa turned to look at him sharply. "Oh we forgot to tell you. We were both fired yesterday. We'll just have to find some other place to eat tonight." She turned and walked up the stairs peeling out of her clothing as she went.

Brennan bust in the door just as Jesse picked himself up off the floor to follow the dark haired woman upstairs and thoroughly question her about this whole being fired issue.

"Where are they?"

"Upstairs." Jesse replied before he pulled his shirt up to cover his nose. "Dude, go take a shower before you confront her. You reek. How far did you run on that little jog of yours?"

Brennan took the stairs two steps at a time while pulling his sweat soaked shirt over his head. "Just twenty miles. Nice job on the kitchen floor by the way."

Jesse nodded to himself. I did do a good job didn't I. If anyone steps on it to mess it up within the next twelve to twenty-four hours I myself will personally kill them with my bare hands. Nodding to himself to prove his point he went upstairs to confront Lexa and persuade her to help him think of a place to go out to eat that didn't require a lot of money.

A few hours later the four found themselves ordering dinner at the local mom and pop restaurant. Brennan was still trying to not blow up at Shal for her not telling him beforehand that she and Lexa had somewhere to be so he kept pretty silent mainly watching the other customers in the joint as he ate his chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes.

Jesse and Lexa were arguing over whether or not they should go ahead and renovate all the rooms or just the ones they were living in and if they wanted to complete the add-on rooms that had apparently been started a few years before by someone on the back of the house.

Shalimar just listened to the two of them argue while she ate her steak and eggs and then finally spoke up when they seemed to have reached a stalemate.

"Look. I think we should go ahead and renovate all the rooms and then go ahead and finish the add-ons. I also think that we need to expand the basement. Make it larger, put rooms in it. Make it useful. We don't have Adam anymore so we don't have his contacts but we can still help new mutants. And if they need a place to stay and get on their feet or to train so they can control their powers then we need to have the facilities to help them. Sanctuary's gone we can't fix that. But we can build a new one. An Eden for new mutants." She stopped and looked at all three of her friends dead on, "You know I'm right."

At their nods she went back to devouring her food but all the time her own words echoed back in her mind along with one other thought. Cassandra. She couldn't help but feel that before too long that girl was going to be living with them. There was something about her. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

She continued the meal in silence lost in her thoughts even after they paid and went home. Rolling over in the dark she set the alarm on the night stand for 5:30am before snuggling up to Brennan. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

**Author's Note:**

As I have said in all my other stories that I have updated this past week. I am sorry I took so long but I am having a bit of difficulty of keeping up my imagination for all my stories and yet keeping them along my plot line.

And then I had to deal with the annoyance of someone asking me if my story was up for adoption and then before I could say "no, my stories are never up for adoption" that person took my story and then placed it on their own webpage with their name as the author. Needless to say they got a very blistering email and I had the site their page was attached to shut their page down. They are also blocked from after I alerted the managers.

So here is a lesson for everyone to learn. Never are my stories up for adoption. And if I ever find another of my stories stolen you better hope you aren't the one who took it otherwise you are in for a hell of a ride. I am quite vengeful in that way.

Anyways hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I meant to flush it out a bit more but I figure that this way no one will get bugged down in all the details and forget the important parts.

So can anyone figure out what is so different about Cassandra?


End file.
